Optimising Hydropower Generation through Fluid Dynamics Research

A team of researchers from the University of Tasmania are leading the way in realising efficiency improvements and optimising hydropower generation. The headworks of hydropower stations are often several kilometres long with tunnels, open channels and pressurised pipelines transporting water from storage dams to the turbines. Significant efficiency improvements can be made by removing the thin biological slimes that grow on the walls of these conduits. The team is studying the physics of the flow over these biological growths in both open channel and pipeline environments to understand the mechanisms for drag production through full scale testing on hydropower schemes and an extensive experimental program using dedicated laboratory rigs. This paper discusses the results to date, including: improvements of up to 25% in headloss in penstocks, modifications to the structure of the boundary layer and significant increases in friction coefficient, and details the new experimental pipe rig under development to further these studies.